Concordia University is welcoming, engaged, and committed to innovation and excellence in education, research, creative activity and community partnerships. It dares to be different and draws on its diversity to transform the individual, strengthen society and enrich the world.
Concordia’s core values stem from those long prized by its founding institutions, Loyola College and Sir George Williams University. Concordia adopted the motto of the city of Montreal, Concordia salus, which speaks to well-being through harmony. The union of two very different institutions of higher education has led to an exceptionally successful synthesis of compatible and timely values.
In 1974, two traditions came together:
Aerial view of Loyola College, still surrounded by farmland
Loyola College grew out of the English-language program of Collège Sainte-Marie, a Jesuit college founded in 1848. Loyola College became a separate institution in 1896. Loyola was first located at Bleury and Ste-Catherine and then on Drummond south of Ste-Catherine, before it was built on land it acquired in 1900 in the west end. The College moved into the three original buildings on the current Loyola Campus in 1916.
Hall Building, Sir George Williams University, under construction
Sir George Williams University originated in the evening classes offered by a YMCA Educational Program that began in 1851 and continued in various YMCA facilities in downtown Monteal. The program became a co-educational college in 1926, introducing university-level courses in 1929. The first university degrees were conferred in 1936 and the University Charter under which Concordia currently grants degrees was received in 1948.
In both learning streams, common values included a commitment to contributing to the betterment of the person and society.
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